The Friesian horse is often viewed as a gentle giant, a well-mannered and quiet creature possessing the stoicism of his Dutch agricultural origins. You might be surprised to discover that this “somber soul” in horse’s clothing is often exceedingly sensitive, requiring both understanding and encouragement for successful handling and training.

A Mix Of Nature And Nurture

According to Tanja Ehrhardt-Barina of Windermere Farms, Friesians may appear to be cool on the outside, but are a responsive and emotional breed with a tendency to internalize stress.

“While they appear calm and quiet all the time, it’s because Friesians just don’t release their emotions or frustrations like other horses; they typically don’t ‘explode’ like many of the more high-strung breeds,” says Ehrhardt-Barina.

She points out that with this trait, Friesians can develop stress-related stomach ulcers, either from the way they’re handled or trained or from their living conditions, and some Friesians in the U.S. have died from them. “Typically these horses were insured, so there’s an autopsy, and it’s shown that the horse had either a stomach ulcer or ulcers within the intestine. I think people underestimate how much Friesians take in and store their emotions,” she cautions.

Ehrhardt-Barina’s prescription for stress reduction? Daily routines and management that allow a horse to be a horse. “We’re very careful in how we treat our horses, they’re even specifically fed in a manner to reduce stress on their intestines,” she says. That caution also translates into Windermere’s stall and turnout customs; horses are out all day in pastures, including the eight stallions that each have their own pastures. It’s a practice designed to simulate natural herd dynamics of keeping the herd in sight, and Ehrhardt-Barina credits it with their problem-free stallion management.

 “We need to be able to ride our stallions in warm-up rings at shows alongside mares, so we need them to behave. I think we don’t have the typical stallion problems that people have when they isolate stallions, primarily because our stallions are socialized and ridden amongst other horses in the arena and on trails on a daily basis. This way they don’t go ballistic when they’re around mares,” she says.

Jump Right In, The Gene Pool’s Fine

One long-time breeder agrees that Friesians typically have a tractable nature, but points out there are individual as well as breed variations. “Our breeding stallions are easy to handle, very calm. Our granddaughter can groom them and they’ll stand perfectly still. They’re also generally fine with lots of people, although we have one stallion who prefers women over men, and doesn’t like to be fawned over,” says Arlene De Boer.

Co-owner of Michigan-based The Friesian Connection with her husband Robert, De Boer says that because Friesian breeding practices are so strict, with a relatively small gene pool and very pure bloodlines, it’s fairly easy to breed for the type of temperament you want. “Disposition has a tendency to run according to bloodlines, so if you have a mare from a more ‘hyper’ bloodline, you probably won’t want to breed to a stallion who is also from a more ‘hyper’ lineage,” she points out.

At Friesian Focus in Vista, California, Lance Bennett trains champion Friesians for saddleseat and pleasure driving competition in addition to Saddlebreds, Morgans, and Hackneys. It’s a mix that works because of the horses and bloodlines they select and import.

“Friesians are like many other breeds where there are certain bloodlines suitable as quiet family horses, as well as hot bloodlines that make them exciting show horses. Working with the other hot show breeds, we find the Friesian to be a very well mannered horse to be around, and very sensible at shows,” says Bennett.

Off To A Good Start

Starting a foal properly is also a factor in having a happy and well-adjusted Friesian. “We have one girl, that’s her full-time job, to handle all the foals and weanlings,” reports De Boer, who says they also rely upon herd dynamics in their program. “Once foals are a few weeks old, we put them in a group setting. We figure being in the group teaches them a lot, and they like being together, with all the babies playing.”

Ehrhardt-Barina concurs that early handling is important, and adds that the post-birth imprinting procedure they follow at Windermere isn’t just for Friesians, but could be applied to foals of any breed. “Our foals are imprinted at birth with a specific protocol, and then we do other things from day one, such as picking up all four feet daily, and leading them with a soft lead rope around the body like a figure eight. We allow them to go in the washstall with the mare and play in the water; many of them like it. But, if they get tired and want to leave they can, we initially don’t restrict them in the washstall,” she says.

But Is He Right For The Job?

A Friesian is a horse that’s usually highly intelligent and typically loves to work with people. Attaining success in training and showing means understanding and respecting their limits, both as a breed and as an individual.

Ehrhardt-Barina feels that many dressage riders and trainers are not successful with Friesians primarily because they don’t understand the breed’s mental and physical traits, and how they learn.

“Friesians don’t have a lot of stamina. While they’re genetically a warmblood, they have a cardiovascular system more comparable to a draft horse. Their hearts and lungs can’t take extended strenuous exercise without special attention to conditioning,” she says, pointing out that they also learn differently than other warmbloods. “The only way to successfully train a Friesian in dressage is in short intervals, introducing a new idea early, then moving on to something else after a few minutes, and giving walk breaks in between.”

Misunderstanding a Friesian’s limits becomes an issue restricting advanced training because the horses get tired and frustrated, similar to a worn-out youngster in school whose brain isn’t capable of absorbing new ideas. “In dressage, many people will try to lunge a Friesian for 20 minutes and will only introduce new concepts after they’ve been ridden for an hour. A Friesian doesn’t do well with that regimen; they shut down and don’t want to move forward for you anymore.”

However, the Friesian breed’s lack of stamina isn’t an issue when riding saddleseat, according to Bennett. “The Friesian horse is a very upheaded, high trotting breed, and they’ve been used heavily as fancy carriage horses, so the transition to saddleseat was a natural one and not forced at all,” he says.

At Friesian Focus, Bennet says their methods call for light work with the emphasis on animation and verve, and that the Friesians are excellent saddleseat mounts. “If you look at pictures on our website, you’ll see happy horses full of power and brilliance, doing their jobs and enjoying what they are doing,” he says.

One training caveat that Ehrhardt-Barina lives by is not riding a horse dressage when she’s had a bad day. “Given the Friesian tendency to hold things in, you have to consider your own emotional state when you ride,” she says, adding that it’s not fair to the horse. “Since you’re connected when you ride, they’ll sense and respond to your emotions and tenseness.”

She says that on a day like that, instead of getting into a fight with her horse or fostering behavioral issues, she won’t ride dressage; instead, the horse will receive light lunging or some other form of beneficial exercise, like a relaxed trail ride.

It’s All In The Family

Friesians are also very personable and tend to form a strong bond with their owners; it’s been said that a Friesian chooses his own person. However, the very strongest ties are formed when love, respect, and understanding flow in both directions.

“We’ve seen huge transformations in horses we import once they become attached to a certain person,” says Bennett. “All horses speak, you just have to know how to listen. These horses will tell you what they are good at and whom they respect. And, once this breed understands who you are and what you want, they have a lot of heart to do what you ask.”

The De Boers became involved with Friesians purely by accident, on a 1984 trip to their Dutch homeland, but feel their horses are now members of the family. “My husband was riding around with a cousin, and they went to the farm that was the birthplace of his grandfather. At that farm, which was then owned by some distant relatives, he saw a mare and foal he just fell in love with,” says De Boer.

The couple bought those two, and a third horse, from the farm where Robert’s grandfather was raised, starting the breeding dynasty they enjoy today, over 25 years later. “We still have descendents from those first horses,” she says.

Friesian owners often become passionate about their horses, and while the horses themselves might refrain from wanton displays of emotion, there’s no such constraint on the humans.

“My husband, he just loves them. My son once asked about having 10 minutes at dinner without talking about Friesians, but it couldn’t be done,” laughs De Boer. “They consume our lives, but we couldn’t imagine living without them.”

Photo: Gerald Wheeler

Photo: Gerald Wheeler

Friesians typically have a tractable nature, but there are individual as well as breed variations.

Attaining success in training and showing Friesians means understanding and respecting their limits, both as a breed and as an individual.